A Forgotten Past
by Cececat
Summary: 16-year-old Perdita Majors is shocked when she finds out her widower 'father' Brad Majors might not be her father after all, and that many other people aren't what they seem. (Please Read/Review!)
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I don't own _The Rocky Horror Picture Show_**

 **A/N: So, most chapters will be longer. This is just a bit of background stuff explaining what's happened during the years between the movie (1974) and this story (1991 or so). Hopefully it's interesting and not too weird.**

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 ** _Prologue..._**

In the second month of the year 1975, a couple was wed. Brad Majors was the name of the groom, Janet Weiss the bride. It was a very nice ceremony despite the bride looking a bit sickly. Both sets of parents and all their close friends were there, and many toasts were made to the new couple's health.

Only about five months later (in August, that is) a girl was born. The mother died soon after giving birth. Brad never saw the poor woman after her death, for some reason. Her funeral was held a day after the baby's birth with only three persons in attendance (Janet's husband and her parents).

Brad named the baby 'Perdita'. It was his task to care for the child. Since Perdita had obviously been conceived about four months before the wedding, he knew she wasn't his daughter. Perdita was the daughter of a mad scientist from outer space who'd seduced Janet whilst in very campy drag.

Nobody wanted to remember that strange night. Yet even _thinking_ about the child Perdita would remind Brad.

Though, to honor his poor wife's memory, he vowed to treat the girl like his own daughter.

It was the Right thing to do. That's what his ex-classmate Ralph said the next time they'd met for lunch. Dr. Scott – a close friend – also seemed to agree.

Ralph's dear wife Betty helped out for the first few years. Though Betty had a baby of her own to look after by the time Perdita was about a year old. An odd young woman who lived down the street from Brad also spent quite a bit of her time as a caretaker for young Perdita.

 _That_ woman was called Laura Trent, and she'd moved in about a month after the wedding. Brad thought something always seemed a bit strange with her though he never said so. It was good of her to help out. She was very young – hardly 20, it seemed – yet very sad, it seemed.

Never had Brad figured out what she did for a living. She spent so much time at his house caring for Perdita that it wasn't possible for her to have a job! Yet it was good to have somebody helping out, even if they were odd.

Laura had grey eyes, shortish brown hair, and a slightly high-pitched voice. Often she'd tell imaginative stories to Perdita or sing sweet lullabies. When Perdita was a bit older Laura became the one who drove her to school and packed her lunches.

As Perdita grew older she began to think of Brad _and_ Laura as her parents. By the time she was seven she still referred to Laura as 'Mommy'. Though nobody minded _that_. It just became confusing for strangers.

Sometimes this worried Brad – among other people.

"You can't keep up with this. Laura is always at your house even though she doesn't really live there, she's basically mother to Perdita – why aren't you going to marry her?" Ralph once said. "Betty would plan the wedding for you."

The idea of marrying Laura seemed rather wrong to Brad. They were more like siblings or good friends than a couple. And he didn't know much about Laura even after many years. The idea of marrying _anyone_ ever again seemed wrong. Silly as it was, he never really accepted Janet's death. To him she still lived and remarrying would be _not_ Right.

Laura didn't seem to care. All she wanted – as far as Brad could tell – was to be Perdita's mother. It was odd, borderline suspicious. Yet how was helping your widower neighbor raise his daughter a crime? It wasn't, Brad _knew_ … yet he was still confused by it.

So time went by.

Perdita grew from a thin child to a pretty young woman. Her eyes were wide and brown like her mother's, her hair quite dark in color, her skin paler than that of both parents. It made her look a bit like Snow White, especially if she wore red lipstick. She often did just for that reason.

Though she had few friends she was relatively happy. Always smiling that cat-like smile of hers or laughing at _something_. Despite. She was always up to something, too. Though it was rarely criminal. No, more like leaving school a few hours early to go to lunch or something equally good-natured.

Her unnatural charm always kept her out of trouble or earned her quick forgiveness. People liked her for no true reason. She was just… likable. Her very presence was addictive, some said.

The only person truly resistant to this little talent was Laura. Nobody knew why – save for Laura herself – and nobody cared. They all liked Perdita too much.

Now, if she'd ever done something actually _wrong_ problems would've happened. It was only little bits of rule-twisting here and there. An _art_ , it was. Maybe even Ferris Bueller could've learned few tricks from her for his 'day off'.

Though _one_ day things got serious. This tale _really_ begins then. Soon after Perdita turned 16…

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 **A/N: yes, Laura Trent is Columbia. I'm only calling her Laura because other characters don't know yet.**

 **Please Review!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I don't own _The Rocky Horror Picture Show_**

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 **A/N: Two reviews already! Okay, they're from people I sort of know... but it's still exciting. Thank you, FireandBloodandKittens and Little Collie Lovett!**

 **Also... I couldn't think of a good fake last name for certain characters so I stole one from _Shock Treatment_. That film didn't happen in this story's timeline. Speaking of the names, there's a teacher at _my_ school who's named something that sounds sort of like 'Stalin' so people call him that. That's where the idea of 'Principal Stalle/Stalin' comes from. **

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It was late June when That Family moved in.

Nobody knew who _they_ were, where they came from, or what they wanted with Denton. And few people saw them at first. Since the school year was almost over, they didn't send their daughter there yet.

The first real sighting of them was when all three of them showed up at Denton High School to properly enroll the daughter for the next year. The only people who really even saw them were the people in the front office.

And Perdita, of course. She _hated_ that year's history class and liked to wander the halls in search of entertainment. By then she knew that people liked her enough that she could get away with basically anything. That included sneaking into the office and eavesdropping on a meeting. For once, she decided to do things the quiet way and not draw attention to herself. She stood in the closet – just out of sight – and listened.

The principal – named Mr. Stalle, though people often called him Mr. Stalin – was talking to two very odd people. One was a petite woman with messy red hair tied back with a scarf, the other a serious looking bald man with a decidedly military manner to him. She wore a dark dress that looked sort of 1950s, while he wore an ill-fitting business suit.

"Well, Mr. and Mrs. McKinley-" Stalle _began_ to say.

"You must call me Margreta," the woman said, her voice slightly accented. "And you may call my husband Richard, if you vish."

Stalle laughed nervously "Right. You're here about your daughters schooling, right?"

"Yes," Richard said.

"How old is she right now?" Stalle asked.

"16. That would mean she's in her 10th year now, I should think." Margreta replied.

"Where did she go to school previously?"

Now the McKinley's both looked a bit uneasy. Stalle didn't notice this, though it made Perdita a bit suspicious of these newcomers.

Finally, Margreta spoke. "She vas Homeschooled. We traveled a lot, you see."

"Right. The military man and his foreign wife," Stalle muttered.

Now, Richard looked rather offended. Though he didn't say anything at least. He was very quiet. _Too_ quiet, in Perdita's opinion.

"Well, you two will have to fill out some paperwork and then things will be settled,"

"Right," Richard muttered.

Then the three of them left the office. Only moments later, Perdita did the same. Everyone was used to her wandering around – except for the McKinleys. They hadn't met her yet.

"What's _she_ doing?" Richard asked, hardly hiding his disdain.

"That's just Perdita. We never really bother with her, she's very sweet to us all. Since she gets her work in on time and does in all her classes nobody cares," Mr. Stalle said with a laugh.

"Why, don't her parents have anything to say about zat?" Margreta asked.

"Not really. Her mother died bringing the poor child into this world and her father leaves her in the care of his friend Laura Trent when he isn't around – which is often. The company he works for has him traveling all the time. Miss Trent is mother in all but to the child, and never says a word to us against anything we let that darling girl do here."

Margreta raised an eyebrow. "Is that so? Who is her father, again?"

"His name is Brad Majors."

"Ve live down ze street from him!" Margreta exclaimed, her green eyes widening in a rather peculiar manner.

"Indeed," Richard added through gritted teeth.

Stalle really didn't know what to think of Mr. and Mrs. McKinley. At least they didn't call him 'Stalin' yet. Only Perdita Majors could get away with _that_.

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As soon as school was over, Perdita didn't go home. Instead she went looking for people to talk to. Though she wasn't going to tell them about the visitors. Quite the contrary! She planned to hint at what she'd seen but refuse to actually say anything useful.

The poor souls she targeted that day were an 18-year-old boy named Drew Scott and his 15-year-old sister Lilla. Drew was a senior at Denton High School and Lilla a mere freshman. Years ago, their so-called parents had adopted both of them.

Their father happened to be a respected man of named Edgar Scott. He happened to be the elder cousin of illegitimate Eddie Scott – a '50s greaser who'd disappeared about nineteen years before. Edgar was a far more respectable than Eddie, probably because his Father was a professor named Dr. Everett Scott and his late wife Emilie.

The adoptive mother of Drew and Lilla was a kind woman named Julia.

Since Denton was a small, conservative town adults rarely asked their children about what they did after school. They felt as if they didn't need to!

Perdita took advantage of this fact and the other young people. That afternoon she made her way to the garden in which Lilla often sat reading. It was a lovely place, and Lilla like the shade a certain tree offered. Grinning like the Cheshire cat, Perdita made her way to that tree. Carefully she snuck up behind Lilla…

"Hello, darling," Perdita whispered in Lilla's ear. This startled the poor girl, causing her to shriek _and_ drop her book.

"Perdita Majors! _Why_ must you do such things?"

"What… things?" Perdita asked, wrapping her arm around Lilla's waist.

Though the younger girl was uncomfortable with this at first she soon leaned against Perdita. Even though Lilla wouldn't ever let any other girl do such a thing to her she allowed Perdita to hold her like that. That's what Perdita was for everyone. An exception.

Soon enough, however, Lilla's brother Drew showed up to take her home. By then there were dark lipstick stains on Lilla's neck and she was breathing rather rapidly. It looked quite wrong in a few ways, this little scene. Perdita's hands being where they were – caressing poor Lilla's breasts – was particularly scandalous.

Drew _wasn't_ pleased.

"Perdita Majors! Get off my sister!" he growled.

"Why?" Lilla said, smiling at Drew.

"Because it's indecent."

Perdita giggled. "Aw, but look how much fun she's having. And you _really_ enjoy watching, I know you do. I can see your… trousers."

"That's not the sort of thing you should say," Grew said, blushing. "It's indecent."

"Indecent! You love that word. Should I tell your darling father about your… indecent… reaction to all this?"

"No! Please don't."

Then, Perdita moved away from Lilla. This caused the later to sort of come back to reality (no pun intended). The poor girl then began to blush horridly. Perdita stood up and walked over to Drew.

"Well, then. I'll just leave now and not breath a _word_ to anyone…"

Drew nodded stiffly (again, not a pun). And so, Perdita walked home. It wasn't like she had the energy for more of all that.

Adults in Denton all thought Perdita was sweet. The people Perdita's age, on the other hand, couldn't help but be attracted to her. Drew was right – it was indecent!

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 **A/N: Perdita really is her father's daughter. Also, I'm sort of basing her on John Hurt's portrayal of Caligula (from _I, Claudius_ ).**

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	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: I don't own _The Rocky Horror Picture Show_**

 **A/N: Thanks for reviewing, Guest! Hopefully this chapter lives up to everyones expectations.**

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When Perdita got home, Brad Majors wasn't yet back from his job. Laura, on the other hand, was at the house. As usual she'd been there all day. Sometimes people wondered why she even owned that house down the street when moving in with Mr. Majors was probably simpler.

Perdita walked right to the kitchen. By then Laura had already begun to cook dinner for the three of them. That evening they'd be eating some sort of casserole that was in the oven by then.

At the table Laura sat reading a book ( _The Winter's Tale_ by William Shakespeare). That day she wore a light blue dress with a fitted waist and a nice little hat. Like most people in Denton she looked like something out of the 1950s. The town as a whole had at some point decided to stay in a 1950s state of mind for as long as possible. This was how the 1960s had sort of missed them. By then it was the early 1990s and people were _still_ resisting change.

Even though Laura was something of a newcomer – having first shown up 16 years previously – she'd quickly adapted.

"How was your day?" Laura asked, when she noticed Perdita standing by the door.

"Lovely. I listened to a meeting between Mr. Stalin and those new neighbors of ours during school. Also, Drew and Lilla Scott provided this afternoons entertainment.

Laura ignored what Perdita said about the Scotts since she respected their family, but was intrigued by the mention of those new neighbors everyone was talking about. They'd moved in right next to her house.

"What are these new neighbors like?" she asked.

"McKinleys, they're called. The wife is Margreta and the husband is Richard. She's got red hair that she ties back and he is bald. She has an accent of some sort and he doesn't talk much."

That sounded oddly familiar to Laura. She hadn't yet seen her neighbors, though now she had a pretty good idea of who they were.

"Do you know anything else?" Laura asked.

"Mr. Stalin said that Richard is a military person who's settling down here for a while. The daughter I don't know anything about yet. May I go meet her?"

" _No_ ," Laura replied sharply.

"Mom! Why _nooowt_?" Perdita said, pouting.

Laura sighed. "Because I know you'll do something. Something that you shouldn't!"

"Aw, nobody ever seems to mind when I do," the girl replied, rolling her eyes.

"Your father will be home soon and you mustn't be out when he is. The poor man is always so stressed from his job that I don't see why you should add to his worries by being late for dinner. You _know_ that we eat as soon as he gets home. Why don't you go read something?"

"Like what?" Perdita asked.

"Maybe that book about the vampires? You like that, I know you do."

Perdita sighed. "Fine. I'll go read. You mean _Dracula_ , don't you?"

Laura smiled sweetly. "Yes. Go on, now."

And so, Perdita went up to her room to read. The reason she loved _Dracula_ so much was that the Count himself was very relatable. He too could seduce people with mere words… convince them to do his bidding. Perdita didn't know any real people like that – save for herself – and always enjoyed reading about such things.

After she'd been there for a while, she heard the front door open quite nosily. It creaked terribly, but nobody bothered to fix it. At least it meant Perdita knew when somebody was entering _her_ house.

This time it was obviously Mr. Majors at the door. That also meant dinnertime, to Perdita's delight!

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Later, once dinner was over and all the dishes washed, Laura called Brad into the dining room again. This surprised him. Usually she'd return to her own house by then.

"Mr. Majors? There's something I've got to tell you," she said softly, hoping Perdita wasn't hiding nearby and listening.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

"Nothing. Well… I'm not exactly who you think I am. My name really is Laura Trent, but I went by a different name for a few years. At the age of 16 I ran away from home and became a groupie. That's when I dyed my hair pink and wore too much makeup. Look, I'm _not_ proud of those wasted years. I prefer not to think about it… or what happened next. After traveling for a while I ended up at a castle near this very town. There was a man who wore woman's clothing with far too much makeup yet somehow _seduced_ me. Logically it was all very silly. But I fell in love with him and stopped caring about logic!

"So I lived at that castle for a while. Time didn't seem to matter and nobody did anything worthwhile. It was wild, hedonistic decadence. There were others besides the drag queen and I. Two servants who were brother and sister. Though they were much closer than siblings should be – I'm sure you understand what I mean by that. Though I had a baby there, the drag queen's child, I gave it up for adoption before I could allow myself to get attached. A child couldn't be raised in such a place. Later, a young man named Eddie showed up. I took quite a liking to him. Sadly, he was taken away for some sort of science project. They wanted to build a creation, as Victor Frankenstein did, and needed a brain. So Eddie was gone.

"Six months later, there was a grand party. Many strange people appeared at the castle. The strangest of all were two young people. A man named Brad Majors and his fiancée Janet Weiss."

Laura decided that this was a good place to stop. Tears were in her eyes by then and she feared that saying more would upset Brad.

"You're the tap dancer, aren't you?" Brad asked.

"Yes. I was called Columbia then. Mr. Majors… I'm so sorry about all this!"

"It's alright, Laura," he said, putting his arm around her shoulder.

For quite a while she cried and cried. Though he had many questions, Brad didn't say another word that evening. It seemed like the Right thing to do.

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	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: I don't own _The Rocky Horror Picture Show_**

 **A/N: This chapter really isn't that good, I know. I just want to keep this story going. Hopefully it's at least good enough for now.**

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When she awoke the next day, Laura was surprised to find herself still at Mr. Majors' house. Apparently she'd fallen asleep in the guest room. Actually, he'd carried her there after she fell asleep on the couch but she was too tired to remember that. The reason she awoke was even more shocking than where she awoke.

That dreadful child Perdita was sitting on the bed shaking Laura by the shoulders. The sight of Perdita's pale face up close like this was quite startling.

"What are _you_ doing here, Mom?" the girl asked.

"I should ask you the same question."

For a moment neither spoke. Finally, Laura decided that she should explain first because she was the sane one and the adult. It would be better that way.

"I stayed here last night because your father and I stayed up late talking. Nothing happened and I plan to go home now. Why are you here? Why are you in this bed with me – oh that sounds terrible, I didn't mean it like that – with me?"

"Just because. Anyway… it's Saturday, Mom. That means a whole day of nothing to do! I've got the free time to go see the McKinley family, to meet their teenager-child. I _still_ don't know her name, you know. And if we're to be classmates next year I _must_ learn it!"

Laura sighed. "Perdita, why not learn it later? The new school year doesn't start for quite a while."

"Because," the girl replied.

Then, she left that room and went to her own.

Laura was rather worried now. Surely Perdita would only make matters worse by doing whatever she was going to do! If the so-called 'McKinleys' were whom Laura suspected… well, it wouldn't work out.

By this point she'd guessed from various hints here and there that Mr. and Mrs. McKinley were Magenta and Riff Raff. The incestuous servants. Though Laura didn't know anything about a daughter. The child must've been born around the same time as, after. Had Magenta already been pregnant by the time?

They'd been roommates, dear friends. Surely Laura – then called Columbia, as she'd told Mr. Majors the previous night – would've figured that out! Especially since she'd already had a child of her own by then. Or were alien pregnancies different? Yet Magenta's child could've easily been conceived after that terrible night when everything went wrong. That would make sense…

"Enough thinking about things that don't really matter," she muttered to herself.

Then, she got out of the bed and looked in a nearby mirror. She still wore the clothes she'd worn yesterday. At least she knew that Mr. Majors was too polite to undress her. It then occurred to her that she'd either have to go back to her house dressed like this or borrow something of Perdita's.

The latter sounded so terrible that she quickly smoothed out her skirt, fixed her hair, and rushed out the door. It was lucky indeed that she lived only a few houses away.

As soon as she returned to her own house she cooked breakfast for "Hermione" and herself.

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Meanwhile, that fiendish little creature named Perdita walked towards the now house owned by the McKinleys. It looked nice enough. The garden out front was well kept – thanks to the previous owner – and the front door a vibrant blue color.

Being the peculiar child she was, Perdita didn't knock on the front door to gain entrance. Instead she walked around the house looking in each window. After a while she found the window she liked best.

With strange nonchalance she climbed through that window with very little effort. This awoke the pale, thin, redhead girl that lay sleeping on the bed that took up much of one corner. The girl sat up, too frightened to speak.

"What're you?" Perdita asked. "Now, don't scream. I won't hurt you or anything if you answer my question."

"My name is Flora and I am the daughter of Richard and Margreta McKinley," the girl said, oddly calm. As if she's expected this. "Please, miss. What is it you want from me?"

Perdita laughed that mad laugh of hers. "Oh, nothing much. Probably just some entertainment, maybe a bit of gossip. Let's begin with me asking… where're you from?"

"Far away. _Very_ far away," Flora replied, her green eyes wide.

Thankfully, Perdita didn't ask the other girl to elaborate. She just asked more and more increasingly random questions. Flora answered everything she could without giving away her true origin. This soon became a game of sorts. Perdita quickly decided that she liked this girl because of how 'trainable' she seemed.

Flora, on the other hand, was still sort of confused. Yet this bizarre little game was still weirdly fun.

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Even though they'd just moved into the house they'd already installed those infamous monitors. So, on the other side of the house, Flora's parents watched her talking to that little invader. Neither of them said anything for a while.

It was almost frightening that the two girls got along so very well. Strangely it didn't bothered Magenta how persuasive this child Perdita was.

"Just like her father," Magreta muttered, finally. "Getting along vith _everyone_."

Quiet as usual, Richard merely nodded in agreement.

Neither of them knew what to do. Letting their beloved daughter meet this creature called would be a good thing for their little plan. That strange child seemed tame, all things considered. Magreta guessed that this was due to her being brought up by boring Brad Majors and Columbia – who had magically morphed into an adult since they'd last spoken and changed her name to Laura Trent.

While Magreta thought about all this – and more – her brother/lover silently thought much more cynical things. He was worried… _rightfully_ worried.

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